The Tan Family
Philip is a manager in a real estate company. He is one of the 14 founding members of BFC together with his wife, Linda. Presently a deacon in service and having served as a Sunday school teacher for many years, he enjoys sharing and encouraging God’s children. He oversees the Adult Fellowship, Men/Ladies Fellowship group and co-ordinate our church outing. He is the Chairman of the Church Building Committee and he is also involved in overseeing last year (2005)’s cantata project.
Linda is serving as a mentor to new female believers. She conducts the discipleship eight lessons for new Christians joining our church. She serves in the Ladies Fellowship Committee as well. She has recently retired from being a school teacher after having taught for more than 30 years.
The Tan’s have 3 sons. The oldest, Daniel, is currently a doctor with the Singapore Armed Forces and was the first baby born into BFC. David is a final year medical student, and Darrell is currently a language student in the NUS. All three of them are serving as youth leaders in the youth ministry and Sunday school teachers. Daniel is married to Joann who is a teacher/counsellor at First Toa Payoh Secondary. She also serves in the youth ministry and teaches in Sunday school.
The Tan Family
Philip’s testimony.
I came from a poor family. My father was a migrant from China. Life was difficult when we were young. My father was a trishaw rider and, later, a lorry driver. My mother earned extra income by being a washer lady. I remember helping her to collect clothes and helping her to wash the clothing. Nevertheless, we were a happy family. I always remember what my mother, a faithful Christian, said, “As long as we have two hands and two feet, we need not beg. We can work to survive.�? She had taught me integrity and perseverance and she was a great supporter and encourager.
My grand-mother, Tow Ah Mui, was saved during John Sung’s revival meeting in the 1950s and she brought my mother, brothers and sisters to church. My grand-mother’s favourite phrase in Hokkien dialect was, “Believe in Jesus and you will always win and not lose�? i.e. Believe in Jesus and you will always have the victory.�? Although I attended church since I was 7 years old, I was not a Christian.
In my teenage years, during the 1960s, I stayed at Macpherson Estate. As a kampong boy, I mixed with many neighbourhood boys and was involved in fights. I remember my friend and I beating up another boy, and, one day, that boy brought about twenty others to look for me. I ran home as fast as my feet would carry me and that incident set me to think about life and thereafter. I was then invited to attend a neighbourhood church and got saved in the Vocation Bible School. I attended the church faithfully and served as the Youth leader and Sunday school teacher.
Back in 1974, two other teachers, Ivy and Lucilla, and my wife and I started an outreach to the schools. We would ask permission from parents, telling them that we would bring their children to church and send them back to their homes. We drove a van to fetch them every Sunday. Later on, a group of us felt the need to start a church. We used that outreach and 14 other Christians prayed and worked to start a church. Thus, Baptist Fellowship Church was formed on the 25th September 1976.
Linda and I got engaged on 4 December 1976, and we got married on 3 December 1977 at Baptist Fellowship Church. Life was busy and exciting. I remember the founding members would meet faithfully on Wednesday for Prayer Meeting, Saturday for Fellowship Meeting and tracting, Sunday for Sunday School and Worship Service. We had gone through many trials, one of which was that the CID raided our church to ensure that we were not a cult group. They cleared us and later recommended that we register as a Church. The Baptist Fellowship Church was officially registered on the 4 of January 1977. The Lord prospered us, and we saw many people saved, and the church grew. At that time, the leaders at church took turns to preach, although we were not trained to do so. Saturday night was always spent in praying and preparing messages. We did not have a pastor for fifteen years until 1991.
By 1984, the Lord blessed us with 3 boys, Daniel, David and Darrell. We were kept very busy with our career, church work and our children. All this while, the Lord was merciful and very gracious to us. Our children never fell sick during school days, but only during school holidays when my wife was able to care for them. The Lord answered many of our prayers in taking care of our family. My father got saved after much prayer. Linda’s grandmother got saved and was baptized at the age of 80. Linda’s mother and father also came to know the Lord.
I want to thank and praise the Lord for what he has done in my life, my family and my church. Psalm 34: 8-9 says, “O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. O fear the Lord, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him.�?
The Lord is merciful and very gracious and it is His nature and character to want to bless His children. He loves to hear His children praying to him. “Ask and it shall be given you, Seek and ye shall find, Knock and it shall be opened unto you.�? Matthew 7:7.
“Therefore my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as you know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.�? (1 Corinthians 15:58)
Our God is a faithful God.